Rescue Me
by theboardwalkbody
Summary: Set only a few days after X2. Jason Stryker is still alive and needs someone to get him out of the tomb he's stuck in. Does feature an OFC .
1. The Little Girl

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own anyone except for Tori. I do not own the places either. I just own Tori.**

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Tori stood, shocked into an almost paralyzed state, in front of a large metal table with an array of surgical instruments neatly and evenly spaced on top of it. Her heart raced as she looked around for something that would give her even the slightest clue as to where she was. The room was small, made of tough concrete and very dark. It felt muggy and damp and smelled similar to an old basement. She shouldn't be there. That isn't where she was only a few very short seconds ago.

Those few seconds ago she had been walking towards Alkali Lake. She remembered parking her truck, getting out, and taking a short hike through the woods. She remembered seeing the edge of the water in the distance, and she remembered she was getting closer to it.

She was there to take pictures of the lake. It had been only two days since the dam collapsed and she knew that the new flowing water surrounded by trees and mountains would be a great scene. This was her only day to do it and she couldn't have been more excited. She remembered the smell of the water, the sound of the wind blowing through the trees, and the cold of the air and snow, but she didn't remember how she got in that damn room.

She felt the weight of her camera against her hip. She placed her hand on it; it was something familiar. She closed her eyes and attempted to calm herself down. A split second later a cold breeze made them snap open. She now found herself back outside.

Her heart race increased; her head seemed to be filled with lead as she tried to think. Her thoughts were racing as fast as her heart and she couldn't even manage to form a coherent thought. She was shaking now, and not because of the cold. She figured she needed to get as far away from the woods as possible; for some reason that just seemed like the most logical thing to do.

She took shaky steps that quickly turned into a brisk walk and eventually a jog. She reached the water's edge and looked around. To her left was another part of the woods and to her right was a small cliff. She walked over to the cliff and stood on top of it. She managed to calm herself down by taking a few pictures.

After a while of picture taking her eye began to become strained from looking through the view finder. The icy air wasn't helping the matter either. She placed the camera down at her side again then closed her eyes tight and rubbed them with the palm of her hand a little bit. She opened them again when she felt the air become significantly warmer.

She wasn't back in the same room as before, however, this time she was standing on a platform that extended from a wall to about halfway through the room. The room was circular and she noticed the walls were missing a significant amount of panels. There was no exit to the room and panic kicked in full force.

'I was just outside!' she thought in her panicked state. 'How the fuck did I get in a room with no door!'

She looked down from the platform and saw no visible bottom. Her fear of heights plus her slight claustrophobia made her panic even more. Tears formed in her eyes as she ran carefully towards the wall the platform was jutting out from. There was a door there, but it was thick steal and didn't seem like dynamite could even open it.

She sat down and, for what seemed like the hundredth time, tried to calm herself again. She needed to figure out how to get out of this place, whatever and wherever it was. She took out her camera and crawled over to the edge of the platform. Her flash was bright and she thought that maybe the platform wasn't really that high up after all and that with just some light she'd be able to see the bottom and hopefully a way out. She picked up the camera in her shaking hands and turned the flash on the camera. Without looking through the view finder she snapped a picture into the darkness.

Her idea failed. Even with the extra light there was still nothing to be seen. She crawled back over to the wall and sat against it.

'So this is how I'm going to die. In a room I have no idea how to get out of, in a place I have no idea how I got to, and located in a place I don't remember getting to.' She thought.

She snapped a picture of herself before putting the camera back down. 'Now, if someone ever finds this next to my dead….' The word 'dead' scared her and she didn't finish the thought. Instead she flipped the camera in to View Mode and examined the picture of herself she just took.

Her mid-back length red hair was windswept and messy; it was still damp in some places from where the wind kicked snow up on to it. Her bright green eyes were surrounded by a light red color from all her crying. Her skin was paler than usual, but she didn't know whether that could be blamed on her fright or not. Her cheeks were still rose-colored from the cold.

'At least that's a decent last picture….' she thought as she switched off the camera and placed it down at her side.

She closed her eyes and tried to just sleep. She figured sleeping would be better than panicking.

Again when she opened her eyes she was in another location. She was now sitting on the cliff where she was taking pictures.

She looked around, smelt the air, and felt the snow. It all seemed real, but she wasn't sure anymore. She picked up her camera and flipped it into View Mode. She went through all the pictures she took that day. Pictures of the sunrise over the mountains from her hotel room, pictures of the wolf that was outside the hotel, pictures of the owl in one of the trees on the side of the road, pictures from the trail she walked down, and finally a few pictures of the lake. Nowhere was there a picture of the darkness, or a picture of her in a room with no doors.

"What the fuck is going on?" she screamed out at the lake. "What is going on with my head?"

By the end of the sentence she was back in that inescapable room. She slumped back down against the wall and cried.

'There's something wrong with my head. My ability must be malfunctioning. That's it. This is all in my head and its projecting back on me. I just have to stop thinking about this. Then it will go away. Yeah, just stop thinking about it.' She thought.

She shut her eyes and thought about other things; things that made her feel safe and happy. She thought in images, and remembered the smells, the feel, and the sounds. Normally she could project an image into another's head. She couldn't make them feel, smell, or hear anything, but she could make them see the image as if it was one of their memories. She could either project her own memories or she could project just random scenes and images that she created. Never before could she make a person actually experience anything. This must be her power malfunctioning. There was no other explanation.

She opened her eyes. Nothing was working. She was going crazy. That was the only explanation she could find. Her powers were driving her insane and she was going to die in this place that may not even really exist. She was giving up now. Her head hurt and she was tired. She slumped against the wall and cried.

"Why are you crying?" a young voice broke the silence.

Her eyes snapped open. In front of her at the end of the platform was a little girl. The girl seemed to be no more than 10, had shoulder-length brown hair, and was wearing a long white nightgown. Tori was un-nerved by the fact that the girls face was hidden in shadow.

'I'm not doing this…this isn't me. It can't be.' She whispered out loud.

"Not doing what?" the little girl asked.

The girls question went unanswered.

"Who are you?" the little girl asked.

"I'm not so sure right now." Was the answer that the girl received.

"Well, who are you other times?" the little girl asked.

"Other times my name is Tori Cerra." Saying her name out loud to a girl who came out of nowhere sounded strange.

"Hello, Tori." The little girl smiled.

"What's your name?" Tori asked.

"I'll tell you on one condition." The little girl said.

"What's that?" Tori asked.

"You save me." The girl stated.

"Save you?" Tori asked.

"I'm stuck in here. You have to get me out." The little girl said.

Tori laughed out loud. It was a cruel, humor-depleted, laugh.

"Save you because you're stuck in here? News flash: I'm stuck here too." She snapped at the little girl.

"No you're not." The girl answered. She didn't seem bothered at the sudden harsh treatment at all. "You're here because of me. You're still outside and just so you know, your pants are getting soaked from the snow." The girl smirked.

Tori suddenly became aware of the cold wetness on the back of her pant legs and felt embarrassed. Observing her pants she saw the dark spots that were getting soaked and she felt the snow around her even though she was still in that enclosed room.

"So, let me get this straight. I'm outside; I only think I'm here?" Tori asked.

"Yes." The girl smiled.

"You're stuck in here, and you need me to save you, which is why you're showing this to me in the first place?" Was the next question.

"Yes." The girl smiled.

"Alright, where is here?" Tori asked.

"We're under the lake in the dam." The girl told her.

"We can't be. It was destroyed." Tori informed her.

"Not all of it. This room's pretty messed up, but it's not full of water." The girl said. "Otherwise I wouldn't be here."

"How do I get in here?" Tori asked.

"I don't know." The girl said.

"How do I get into this building?" Tori asked.

"I don't know." The girl said.

"Then how am I supposed to save you?" Tori asked.

The girl frowned. "I don't know."

The girl began to panic; Tori could see it in her face. Tori knew what the girl was thinking. She knew the girl was afraid she wouldn't receive any help if the task seemed impossible and if she had no clue where to even start. Tori knew because that's how she felt.

"Please! You have to help! My dad's going to be so mad! He's probably hurt somewhere...Oh! This is all my fault! Please help me! I have to fix this! I have to finish what he told me to do!" The girl cried.

Tori felt bad for even thinking about not helping now. This was just an innocent little girl who was stuck, and whose father had probably died when the dam burst.

Tori sighed. "Alright, I'll help. You just have to be patient. I have to figure out how to get here."

The girl stopped crying. "Oh thank you!"

"What's your name anyway?" Tori asked.

She never got a reply, for by the end of her question she was back on the cliff sitting in the snow.


	2. The Mission

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own anyone except for Tori. I do not own the places either. I just own Tori.

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**

Charles Xavier sat in his office and gazed out the large bay window on the wall behind his desk. Out on the lawn were several of his students all working together to help clean up the yard. Together they were busy planting new flowers, trees, and bushes. Some were even cleaning up the damage done by a fallen tree. Everything was coming together nicely, and an outsider would never have been able to even guess that just a few days ago the entire place was in shambles. Those few days ago plants and flowers had been trampled when the soldiers had stormed the place, and a tree or two had been knocked down by their helicopter. The damage was being cleaned up nicely though. In fact, the place may even be looking better.

Inside things were no different. Students and teachers alike were working together to clean up the damage. Broken glass was still being vacuumed and swept up; doors were being repaired along with some walls and a few sections of some of the floors and ceilings.

The professor smiled; he was happy to see how well his students got along and how they all cooperated to clean up the place. The thing that made the professor the happiest was that no one even asked the students to clean up. They all took on the responsibility themselves. It made him happy to see the students taking pride in the place they have come to call home.

As he gazed out the window he happened to sense something. Still gazing out the window, but no longer observing the students, he concentrated on it with his mind. It almost felt like what he had sensed when he was in the presence of Jason Stryker. Now the professor was curious. Could Jason still be alive or was it just some left over psionic residue? He had to find out.

A few moments later there was a knock on the door. He was already behind his desk and waiting.

"Come in Kurt." the professor stated calmly.

Kurt shyly opened the door, stepped in, and then closed the door behind him. He crossed the room and sat in one of the chairs across from Professor Charles Xavier.

"You need me for something?" Kurt asked in his thick German accent.

"Yes, Kurt, I have a personal favor to ask you; if you would agree to do it, of course." The professor smiled warmly as to put Kurt at ease. "I sense something over at Alkali Lake. I would greatly appreciate if you could go there and see if anyone has survived the destruction that was done."

"You mean Dr. Grey?" Kurt asked. He didn't get a chance to know her too well but he knew she was one extraordinary person. It was her and Ororo Munroe who had found him; it was them who had helped him and did not condemn him for his past actions. Jean Grey was indeed extraordinary; everyone had loved her it seemed. He understood how it felt to lose loved ones, and if going back to Alkali Lake meant possibly bringing someone who meant to much to his new friends back then he would go without question.

"Unfortunately, no. Jean is gone." the professor kept his composure despite the grief he had just experienced at the mention of Jean's name. "I'm not sure what's going on there, but someone is definitely there. You're the only one who is capable of getting into the dam. Many rooms are flooded and you'd be able to get to the ones that aren't."

Kurt Wagner understood what was being asked of him. He was being sent to Alkali Lake to look for any survivors, who might not even be on their side, because he was the only one who could teleport into a room, and then quickly teleport back out in case it was flooded. He just wasn't sure he was willing to do it. He felt he owed it to the X-Men and to Professor Xavier for not condemning him after what William Stryker made him do, though.

Kurt stayed quiet for a moment as he thought it over. Charles Xavier sat patiently and let him think. He was not going to force Kurt to do it if he didn't want to; figuring out if Jason Stryker was alive or not was not worth losing Kurt Wagner.

"I'll go, Professor." Kurt spoke after he thought it over.

"Are you sure?" Xavier asked.

"Ja." Kurt nodded.

"Thank you very much, Kurt." The professor smiled.

Professor Xavier told Kurt all the details required to carry out the mission. Kurt was to go alone, scope out the rooms he could remember seeing in his head, and bring anyone he found back to the school. If he found no one then he was to carry as many pieces of Cerebro back as he could. He was going to be getting there via jet (flown by one of the trained faculty members) and then picked back up in a few hours. He would have been assisted by Scott Summers, Logan or Ororo, but Scott was in no shape to return to Alkali Lake, and neither was Logan even though he wouldn't admit it. As for Ororo, well, the professor still needed some of his teachers.

Kurt headed back to the room he was staying in and began to get ready. He lay down on his bed and closed his eyes. In his head he pulled up all the images of the rooms he was in at the base from Alkali Lake and began to attempt to memorize all the details of the rooms. The room he remembered the most was the copy of Cerebro. Despite the fact that he could visualize it clearly he was going to leave it for last. The room still scared him for if his visualization was off he could end up missing the platform or getting stuck somewhere. Besides, he was supposed to bring back some of the paneling, might as well leave that for last.

He must have drifted off to sleep because one moment he was simply visualizing the rooms and the next he was actually in the rooms. They weren't flooded; however, they were just like he remembered. He was walking through them cautiously and searching for any signs of life. He walked out of one room and into a hall. There had to be 30 or more rooms around him. He began walking in and out of rooms, spending no more than 5 minutes on each.

He walked into a room filled with surgical instruments and shuddered. He remembered that room from before he was found by the X-Men. The memory came flooding back and had begun to replay itself around him. He saw military personal, scientists, and the devil himself; William Stryker, making their way toward him. It was if he had gone back in time and it was happening all over again; not in his head, but in reality. He panicked and teleported out of the room.

He ended up in the copy of Cerebro. Glad to be alone, and free of the horrifying scientists, he caught his breath.

"Have you come back to save me too?" A little girl's voice came from behind him.

Kurt wheeled around and stared at the little girl. She was small with shoulder length brown hair and was wearing a long white nightgown. Kurt stared at her for a moment in disbelief; his yellow eyes locking onto her mismatched eyes. One blue and one green; just like he remembered.

"Jason Stryker?" Kurt asked.

The little girl smiled.

Suddenly everything went black and the voice of the professor sounded through Kurt's head. "Kurt, it's time to leave."

Kurt's eyes opened and he found himself lying on his bed. There were no scientists, no military personal, and most importantly no William Stryker. Realizing he had simply been having a nightmare made him feel almost completely at ease. There was only one thing that bothered him; Jason Stryker.

'It wasn't real.' He thought. 'It was just a dream.'

He gathered his things and headed out to the jet.


	3. Frankenstein and The Boy

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own anyone except for Tori. I do not own the places either. I just own Tori.

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**

Tori got up off the cliff and headed back through the woods to her truck. She turned it on, let it warm up and then let herself warm up for a while. When she was warm enough, and her pants were no longer soaked with snow, she drove toward where the dam used to be.

The road was covered in snow and parts of it were flooded forcing her to find alternate paths. When her truck couldn't handle it anymore she stopped and walked. It was only about a mile from where she was to the mountain that the dam had connected to.

As she walked she thought about how she was supposed to save this little girl. She thought about how she would find the entrance into the demolished place, how she would find that damn room, and how she was supposed to get in there and back out. Then she thought about what would happen if she got lost, if she got stuck in this place, and what would happen to her if she got stuck in a room that was flooded. She stopped dead in her tracks and turned around. She was considering running back to her truck and going all the way home.

'No. This is impossible. That little girl isn't really there; this is just from lack of sleep, or something I ate. Maybe this is the wine from last night kicking in. Yeah. That's it. Just bad wine; maybe even spiked by some punk. None of this is real. I was just hallucinating. Yeah. I'm going home. Just going to get in the truck and drive straight back to Pennsylvania. Not stopping except for gas.' She decided as she started marching back towards her car.

Without warning she was marching through a dark, damp, muggy hall. She was surrounded by doors on either side of her that all seemed to lead to rooms that were all very similar. She kept walking, paying very close attention to detail, and searching; searching for what exactly she didn't know; perhaps the little girl.

The rooms were filled with schematics, surgical tools, strange machines, and all sorts of things that Tori would expect only to find in some sort of laboratory. She had no clue why but she was getting horrible vibes from all of these rooms.

She walked to the end of the hallway and came to a fork. She stood there for a moment trying to decide which way to go.

"You should go left."

Tori screamed at the sudden sound of a man's voice. She turned around and standing a few feet in front of her was a man. He was tall, sickly thin, and was dressed in simply a hospital gown that seemed to be too big for him. He had black greasy hair and a huge fresh surgical scar that ran along his right temple. His most distinguishing feature, other than the scar that made him seem like Frankenstein, were his eyes; Tori couldn't help but stare at them. The man's right eye was blue while the left was green.

"Who are you?" Tori asked. She was scared now. She wasn't supposed to be in this place.

"My name is Jason Stryker." The strange man answered.

"What are you doing here?" Tori asked. She felt a little ridiculous for asking this stranger why he was here when she wasn't even supposed to be there herself.

"I was brought here." He answered.

"For what?" Tori asked. She wondered if this man was also trapped here along with the little girl. Then she wondered what kind of a place she was in where they had little girls and Frankenstein running around.

"I was brought here by my father to die." He answered bluntly.

Tori didn't answer him. She was too busy letting his words soak into her brain. The man waited, he knew that the answer he had given was not one she had expected.

Tori needed to break the silence; she had to ask this guy some questions. To break the silence she said, "Well…at least he didn't succeed."

"That's what you think." the man answered.

Tori was confused. She had no idea what that comment meant. Surely the man wasn't dead seeing as how he was standing right in front of her.

"Go left." He repeated.

"How do you -" she began, but he interrupted her.

"Left." He simply stated.

"How do I know I can trust you?" Tori asked.

The man's expression changed from devoid of emotion to anger. It was an ugly look that made Tori regret asking the question.

"You can't." The man said harshly.

Tori was now standing alone in the hallway facing a fork. She was trying to figure out whether she should go left or right. It was as if the last few minutes had never happened. After a few moments she heard a sound. It sounded like crying.

'The little girl!' Tori thought.

She followed the sound and it led her to the hallway on her left. Halfway down the hallway was a little boy, sitting against a wall and crying. The boy looked to be no older than 12, had brown hair, and pale skin. When he saw Tori he looked up at her. Tori couldn't help but notice that the boy's eyes were two different colors; one blue and one green.

"Hey there." Tori said as she kneeled down next to the boy.

The boy didn't answer he just continued to stare as tears rolled down his face.

"Don't worry; I'm not going to hurt you." Tori said.

"Promise?" The boy choked out.

"I promise." Tori smiled. "I'm here to help you. What's your name?"

"My name's Jason." the boy said.

"Hi, Jason. My names Tori." She smiled.

"How did you get here?" The boy asked.

"I don't know exactly, but I was looking for a little girl." Tori told him.

"My sister?" The boy asked. "You know where my sister is?"

"No, but I'm looking for her. Now that I found you we'll have a better chance of finding her. Two heads are better than one right?" Tori comforted him.

"Right!" The boy wiped his face and Tori helped him up.

"Do you remember the last place you saw her?" Tori asked.

"She was in this big, round room." The little boy said.

"Do you know how to get there?" Tori asked.

The boy nodded.

"Alright, let's go get her then." Tori smiled.

She held out her hand for the boy and helped him up. He dried his face on his baggy sleeve and then smiled at Tori. He then led her through hallways and rooms as if he was leading her through his home. The two of them then stood outside of a giant metal door.

"I don't know how to get in." the boy said. "Do you think you could remember your way back?"

"I think so, but why -" Tori found herself standing in the snow facing the direction of her truck.

She looked around and said, "That's it. I'm getting the fuck out of here for good."

She walked halfway back to her truck when she saw a man approaching her. She stopped and stared.

"Hello!" The man called. He was dressed warmly and in hiking gear. His hair was jet black and he was a rather thin man despite the heavy, bulky gear he was wearing.

As the man approached Tori grew cautious. She was beginning to not trust reality anymore.

The man, who was greeted by only silence from Tori asked, "Ma'am, do you need help? Are you hurt?"

"Just relax Tori, you're back outside, this is real. It has to be. You're not in that creepy building, you're outside. Outside is safe." She whispered to herself.

"Ma'am?" the man called again now beginning a quick jog as to reach her faster incase she was hurt.

The man reached her and put his hand on her shoulder. "Ma'am, are you okay?" he asked.

"Y-Yeah." Tori answered. "Sorry, I'm just having an off day. I thought I was seeing things."

"Do you want to sit down? Would that help?" The man asked.

"Yes, I think it would." Tori said.

"Here, come with me, there's this place up in the mountains I stumbled upon last time I was up here. There's plenty of places to sit and there's food and water in there. I think it's some abandoned military base. Whatever it is, it's nice. I just hope the dam bursting didn't damage it too much." The man said. "My name's Jason by the way."

Tori couldn't help but have this strange feeling that she'd heard that name several times just that morning. She also couldn't help but feel that somewhere before she had seen a man with two different colored eyes just like this man's were. The strange déjà vu feeling made her feel a little sick.

"Tori." she stated. "I'm sorry I'm not very social right now, I just really need to sit down."

"It's alright." The man said. "Just follow me."


	4. Jason Stryker

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own anyone except for Tori. I do not own the places either. I just own Tori.

* * *

**

The man led her through a complex path in the surrounding woods; Tori knew that she would never have been able to maneuver through the woods like this without his help. After what seemed like one of the longest hikes Tori had ever been on the man finally spoke.

"There it is." He smiled as he looked at a mountain.

"How do we get in?" Tori asked.

"Watch." the man said.

The man jogged ahead and put a hand on the mountain. He felt around for a moment until he finally found a spot that was made of plastic. Tori approached with caution. When she reached him she stopped and looked around as if she were afraid something was going to come after her.

"Don't worry." The man said. "Nothing's going to hurt you out here."

"I'm not too sure of that." Tori answered.

The man turned his head away so that Tori couldn't see the small smirk that had formed on his face.

"Would you like to do the honor?" The man asked.

"Honor of what?" Tori asked.

"Opening the door. This panel slides up if you push on it. Underneath is a keypad. The code should be 77000." The man said.

"What if the water damaged the system?" Tori asked skeptically.

"It shouldn't have. Each system should be separated in case of an emergency like that." The man said.

"How do you know all this?" Tori asked.

"I stumbled upon it by mistake. See, I was hiking once and a bear was chasing me. It cornered me here and I somehow hit this panel and exposed the keypad. The code was a bit tricky, but thanks to TV I tried out one of those cheesy tricks and got the code. After I scared off the bear of course." He explained.

"Uh-huh." Tori said.

She didn't know if she trusted him just yet, but she did as he had said. Sure enough the panel slid up when she pushed on it and a keypad did pop out; she entered the code the man had told her. A sound of pops, clicking, and grinding gears filled the air. The side opened a small bit, just big enough for a thin person to squeeze through sideways.

"I guess the water had damaged it a little. It should have opened more than that. Ah well, we can fit if we squeeze. Come on follow me." The man disappeared into the mountain.

That wasn't the only thing that disappeared, however, if Tori had been observant and looked around before following the man into the mountain she would have noticed something pretty bizarre; in the snow there were now only one set of footprints instead of two.

She walked into the mountain and found herself in a room lit by very few dim lights. The room was mostly in shadow except for the few spots directly under the light. About a foot of water covered the floor and was rushing to get out of the gap in the wall. The water was freezing and Tori began to shiver.

"Hello?" She called. "J-Jason?"

No one answered.

"Jason! This isn't funny! Where are you, you asshole?" She yelled into the air.

"I'm over here!" Answered his voice. "I slipped! I can't get up."

She couldn't see him so she followed the sound of his voice. She called him again and when he answered it sounded like he was calling from another room.

'How the fuck did he end up out of the room?' she wondered.

She walked out of the room and followed the sound of his voice. She started looking in all the rooms she passed on her way down the hall. The water level out in the hallway was higher than the water level in the room she had started in. The water seemed colder as well.

"Hello? Jason?" She called, but received no answer.

She poked her head into another dimly lit room and saw hoards of surgical equipment spread out on a table. The déjà vu feeling came flooding back and it scared her.

"What the hell is going on dammit?" she said.

She walked out of the room and to the end of the hallway. She was faced with a fork and the decision to either go left or right. The feeling of déjà vu told her that she should go left. She walked into the next hallway and called for Jason again; she received no answer.

Halfway through this hallway she heard a sound. It was a strange kind of cracking and popping sound. Without warning the floor below her feet gave out. She fell through the floor and the water poured down with her. She screamed until she landed in a huge pool of water. She started swimming toward the surface as fast as she could. Once her head broke the water she inhaled deeply. She looked around and saw a platform just like the one the girl had been standing on. On the end facing her there was a large concrete block where part of the ceiling had caved in.

She swam to the side of it and pulled herself out of the water and onto the platform. When she got up and sat against the rock and closed her eyes causing herself to be completely oblivious to the man in the wheelchair three feet in front of her.

"Now we're both stuck." It was the little girl's voice again.

Tori opened her eyes and saw the little girl standing a few feet in front of her near another giant piece of ceiling.

"Okay, what the fuck is going on?" Tori yelled.

"Is that any kind of language to use in the presence of a little girl?" The girl remarked.

"I don't give a shit. You're not real. Something's going on. Someone is fucking with my mind. I'm probably not even here right now! I'm probably still in Pennsylvania!" Tori yelled. Enough was enough. She was done fighting.

The girl disappeared and in her place was the little boy.

"I thought you promised not to hurt me. All that yelling hurt my feelings." He said then disappeared.

The hiker who helped her get into the mountain appeared in the boys place.

"You need to help me. I'm stuck, I can't move!" He yelled then he too disappeared.

In his place was the thin man in the hospital gown with the scar on his head.

"I told you you couldn't trust me." He smirked before disappearing.

There was no one in front of her now but a memory of something came flooding back. That last man who just appeared to her she hadn't recognized but now she had. She remembered seeing him in the hall before she found the crying boy. She remembered all of it now.

"WHO ARE YOU?" She yelled as loud as she could. "Jason Stryker? If that's even your real name….Who the fuck are you!"

In front of her now was a man in a wheelchair. He looked exactly like the Jason Stryker she had encountered in the hallway only he was sitting, didn't move, and was hooked up to some strange devices.

The man said nothing; he simply stared at her.

Suddenly his image was replaced by that of the man Jason Stryker who Tori had encountered in the hall.

"That man in the wheelchair is you." Tori stated.

"Yes." He answered. "My name is Jason Stryker. I wasn't lying about that. I also wasn't lying about the fact that I am stuck here. I needed to get you to care enough to come get me so I showed you a little girl but you were stubborn even then. I had to get you in here somehow."

"How am I supposed to help you when I'm not sure what's real?" Tori spat.

"This is real. Well, almost. I'm stuck in a goddamn wheelchair in front of you right now instead of standing here talking to you. That's the only thing I'm making you see differently." He explained.

"Then why don't you knock this shit off and talk to me the way you really are?" Tori said with a little too harsh of an attitude.

"I can't." He said. "I wasn't lying when I said I was brought here to die. I wasn't lying when I said my father did succeed in killing me. I don't count sitting in a vegetative state in a wheelchair, needing the assistance of a machine to breathe, not being able to speak, and not being able to function normally living, Tori Cerra. Do you?" The question was rhetorical.

"What did he do to you?" Tori asked quietly.

"Lobotomy." Jason stated. His face twisted into an ugly sneer. "My father loved me so much."

The sarcasm in that one statement was so great it caused Tori to feel more than a little bad for this man in front of her. However, she was still angry. For some reason, though, she couldn't bring herself to show it anymore. She was tired and just wanted to get the both of them out of there.

"Why?" Tori whispered.

"I killed my mother. Drove her insane. She couldn't remember what reality was anymore. I wouldn't let her. She tried to get the images out herself with a power drill. I didn't care. It was her and my father's fault I'm like this. It's their fault I can't be cured. They sent me away to get help from a man who taught mutants like me. His name's Professor Charles Xavier, most powerful mind on the planet they say, but he was more afraid of me than my parents were. I could mess with even his mind. That scared him. I know it did." Jason smirked. "I tried to be good. I tried to control it. It's hard you know. Having everyone being afraid of me and not trusting me sure didn't help at all though. But you wouldn't know what that's like."

"Not completely. But I do know it is hard to control sometimes." She said.

Jason just stared at her.

"I can project images into people's heads. I can make them see whatever I want them to see. They only resemble memories and thoughts though, almost like photographs, I guess. I can't make them feel or hear things or believe they're doing something like you can." she explained.

Jason smiled. "Finally someone who isn't completely oblivious to how I feel!" His smile faded and he was silent for a moment. A look formed in his mismatched eyes that Tori couldn't exactly put a feeling to. It looked pained and as if he was deeply troubled. It worried her a bit to see this suddenly drastic change in him.

Jason stopped the illusion and now Tori was facing Jason's real form. He looked at her and she smiled, finally happy to know the truth, and know that this wasn't just another illusion that would leave her opening her eyes in a different location every few minutes.

"Thank you for getting out of my head." Tori said.


	5. Found

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own anyone except for Tori. I do not own the places either. I just own Tori.

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**

The jet landed in the clearest spot the pilot could find. Kurt walked over to the man and waited for him to speak.

"One hour." The man said.

"Are you sure that's enough time?" Kurt asked.

"It should be. Now hurry." The man said with an agitated tone. He obviously did not want to be there.

Kurt set a timer on the watch he wore on his left wrist over his new leather outfit. All the X-Men wore one, and he felt honored at first to be considered one of them, but now he felt like he was being confined by it. He wasn't used to tight and form-fitting clothing; his blue skin couldn't breathe.

"Danke." He thanked the bored looking pilot.

The man let out a huff of air in response.

Kurt stepped out of the jet and started walking towards the mountains. He had planned on walking the entire way into the base and saving his energy for when he would really need it but the cold was unbearable. The leather may have been thick but it obviously wasn't very good for keeping warm in. He stopped, closed his eyes, and teleported into the base.

His body was engulfed in water. He opened his eyes and saw that he had managed to pick a room completely submerged in water as his first room. He was now freezing and less than happy about being soaked, he teleported into a hallway.

The hallway was dark; all the lights had been shattered when the place flooded. The water was up to his knees and it made a swooshing sound as he walked through it. He checked the rooms with dim lights as thoroughly as he could. The rooms that were dark he would just stand outside of and call for someone.

"Hello?" He would call. "Anyone in here?"

No answer would great him.

He made a right at the fork at the end of the hallway. Halfway down it were dead, bloated men, floating in the few inches of water; it made Kurt sick. He said a quick prayer for the men before calling out for any signs of life again. When no answer met his ears he turned around and took the left hallway.

After a couple of feet into the hallway he noticed that the water level was slowly decreasing as he made his way down the hall. He heard the sound of running water and the dim lights overhead allowed him to see that the water seemed to be flowing instead of being still.

He walked forward some more and when he put his foot down it met with only air. The surprise of the floor not being there didn't allow him time to think. He lost his balance and began to fall into the gap on the floor.

On his way down he managed to wrap his prehensile tail around a beam on the ceiling. He stopped falling and was now hanging upside down with water falling in around him. He found himself inside of the round room where he had saved the professor and had encountered Jason Stryker. He looked down at the platform and he saw that very man sitting in his wheelchair where he had been left. Something else caught his attention though. A young woman sat across from Jason, leaning against a piece of caved-in ceiling. She looked like she was sleeping although Kurt knew that Jason could be manipulating her into thinking she was somewhere else. Or he could be manipulating him into thinking there was someone there when there really wasn't. Perhaps he wasn't even in this room at all.

He pushed his thoughts aside. Jason wouldn't manipulate him if he wanted to get out of here.

"Hello?" Kurt called; his voice echoing around the room.

Tori's head snapped up and she looked around to find the source.

Kurt teleported down to the platform and appeared in front of her. She looked like a drowned animal. Her green eyes were wide as she stared at him; her hair was wet and clung to her face. Her clothes were damp and clung to her skin as she shivered.

"Guten Tag" he smiled. "I hope my appearance does not frighten you." He motioned at himself.

Tori shook her head. It was obvious he was a mutant; she didn't mind. "Who are you?" Tori asked.

"My name is Kurt Wagner, but in the Munich Circus I was known as 'The Incredible Nightcrawler.'" His smile never faltered. "What is your name?"

Tori cocked her head and looked around him. She glanced at Jason; he was sitting in his wheelchair, his eyes half-closed and fixed in a position somewhere to his left. Tori figured this wasn't an illusion seeing as how Jason seemingly wasn't even paying any attention.

"My name's Tori. Tori Cerra." She said.

Kurt held out a hand and Tori grabbed it, he then pulled her up from her sitting position.

"I've come to take you back with me to Professor Charles Xavier's School. He asked me to bring back anyone I found, and I found you." Kurt told her.

"Professor Xavier?" Tori asked.

She looked around Kurt again and her eyes met with Jason's. He stared at her; his eyes filled with a mix of emotions. Tori noticed anger, or resentment but she noticed something else that she couldn't exactly put a finger on. She took that emotion as a sign that he would be okay with going back to Charles Xavier so long as it meant getting out of this tomb.

"He's going too." Tori said and pointed to Jason.

Kurt turned his head and looked at the shell of a man behind him.

"I think that's who the professor wanted me to come and get. He's dangerous you know." Kurt informed her. "You can't always trust what you see around him."

"Oh, believe me, I know." Tori said. "But that doesn't mean he doesn't deserve another chance at life."

Tori looked back and Jason, as did Kurt. Jason stared at her only. His pupils dilated and Tori found herself standing in the room with him standing in front of her; Kurt was nowhere to be found.

Tori knew this was an illusion and was glad that Jason decided not to mess with her head completely as he had been all day. She smiled warmly at him.

"Thank you." He said. He stopped the illusion.


	6. Leaving

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own anyone except for Tori. I do not own the places either. I just own Tori.

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**

Kurt teleported Tori out of the room and into the snow outside first; she was the lightest and he wanted to be absolutely sure she was safe first. The professor may have sent him to retrieve Jason, for what reason he did not understand, but Jason was just not his top concern.

He teleported in and out again a few times each time bringing a different, rather large, piece of metal. Luckily they disconnected quite easily and weren't as heavy as they looked. However, after the fifth piece he began to feel his strength and energy wavier. After dropping off a sixth large and smooth metal square, he teleported back in, and contemplated how he was going to get Jason out.

Jason wasn't able to be removed from the chair due to all the tubes running out of the back of his neck into various machines attached to the back of the chair, and not to mention his air supply as well. Kurt felt sorry for the man. What kind of an existence is sitting in a chair not even being able to breathe normally?

Kurt sighed; this was proving to be very difficult.

The room changed and Kurt found himself facing an upright Jason.

"How are you planning on getting me out of here?" He asked.

"I don't know. You have to stay in the chair right?" Kurt asked back.

Jason sighed. "Not unless you want to kill me."

"I don't want to." Kurt answered.

"Then why did you leave me here last time?" Jason asked bitterly.

"There wasn't time. I had to help the others." Kurt answered.

Jason was silent for a moment but he didn't let the illusion falter. He wasn't through yet, but he didn't know why.

Kurt let the man think seeing as how that's all he could do anyway. He knew this was another illusion and that the only way to get out of it right now was if Jason stopped it.

"It wasn't my fault." Jason said after a few moments.

Kurt jumped a little at the sound of Jason's voice piercing the silence.

"My father made me do it. I couldn't help it. He made it that way. He made it so that I could only do what he said. I would have never done it. I would have killed him first. He's wrong. Wrong about everything. Mutants are not the problem. I am not the problem!" the anger was clear in his voice and it scared Kurt. "It's his fault I am this way. It is his fault I'm so messed up. His fault I can't control it all the time. I didn't want this…."

Kurt didn't know what to say so he just stood there awkwardly and listened.

"I'm sorry." Jason said.

"It's alright. The professor told me about your father. So did Logan…Logan had some personal thing with him. Said it was your father's fault he couldn't remember who he was and it is also your father's fault that he has all that metal in him." Kurt wasn't sure why he was explaining everything to him, but it just felt like the thing to do.

"Logan…." Jason said softly. "You mean the wolverine?" Uncertainty was thick in his voice.

"Yes." Kurt answered.

"I know him. I was really little, but I remember him." Jason said.

"How? Did your father work with him?" Kurt asked. He wanted to find out as much as he could about Logan as to help him remember who he was.

"More like on him. Experiments and whatnot. I don't know everything. I only know that my father convinced the wolverine into coming in and undergoing this surgery. I didn't know what kind though. Only that it involved re-enforcing his skeleton. My father had planned on erasing his memory directly afterwards but he had escaped. I guess they caught up to him since you said he can't remember anyway." Jason informed him.

"If you don't mind me asking, how do you know all of this?" Kurt asked.

"My father had me frozen. I could still hear and see though. I was able to find out what was going on around me. Maybe just in bits and pieces, but I got the basic ideas." He explained.

"Your father really was horrible to you." Kurt said more to himself than to Jason.

"You have no idea. That seems so insignificant compared to everything else he has done. This whole lobotomy was just the end result. His grandest gesture of love." An ugly sneer crossed Jason's face again. "How are you getting me out?" He asked changing the subject.

"Could you possibly hold your breath for about 30 seconds and I could bring the chair right after?" Kurt asked.

"Not unless you want to keep my spinal cord with the chair as well." Jason said.

"What?" Kurt asked.

"My spinal fluid was being drained by a machine so my father could use it to control mutants to do his bidding. I'm still connected to that machine." Jason said. He was getting tired of giving Kurt his life story, and even more tired of having to think about everything his father had done to him.

Kurt absentmindedly rubbed the back of his neck where a circular mark was still branding his skin.

"Alright." Kurt sighed. "I'll hold on to you from the side and see if that works. I just don't know if I will have enough energy for both at the same time."

Jason nodded. The illusion stopped and Kurt now faced the incapacitated man. He walked over to Jason and stood by his side. Kurt knelt down and wrapped his arms around Jason and the back of the chair and gripped as tight as he could. He wrapped his tail around Jason as well for some extra support. He closed his eyes and teleported out to where he had left Tori and the pieces of Cerebro.

They appeared there with a loud 'bamf' and Tori, who had been taking pictures of various things around her, jumped. She turned around and saw Kurt let go of Jason and the wheelchair. Tori smiled.

"What took you so long?" She asked.

"I had a problem trying to figure out how to get him and the chair out. I was afraid I would leave part of him behind if I didn't have a strong enough hold on him." Kurt explained.

"Oh, alright." Tori said. "When do we get out of here?"

Kurt glanced at his watch. "About 5 or so more minutes. The jet will land right over there." Kurt pointed somewhere off in front of them.

"Jet?" Tori asked. "Can't I just drive myself there? I mean, why does he need me anyway? I don't know him."

Jason's eyes snapped from their apathetic stare at the ground to a fixed stare on Tori. Kurt vanished and Tori faced Jason who was standing in front of her.

"You seemed alright with going when you were stuck in there with me. Why the sudden change?" He asked slightly annoyed. There was no way he was going back to face the professor without Tori going. As far as Jason was concerned they were in this together now.

"I'm just not good with planes, besides, he doesn't need me." Tori said.

"So what. The blue guy was told to bring back everyone he found." Jason said. To Tori it sounded like he was trying to convince her into going. Almost like when a younger sibling tries to get their older sibling to take them somewhere.

"But what good would I being there do?" Tori asked. "He only wants you."

"I'm not going back there without you." Jason said and stopped the illusion. He remained staring at her with a hint of anger in his eyes.

"Hello?" Kurt asked Tori.

Tori looked at him. "What?"

"I was talking to you and you weren't answering. Was he….?" He looked at Jason.

"Yeah, but it's all good." Tori sighed. "Fine. I'll go." The last comment was directed more so at Jason than Kurt.


	7. Succumbing

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own anyone except for Tori. I do not own the places either.  
**

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The wind had picked up since they'd been standing around outside and Tori, who was still damp from earlier, began to shiver. Luckily for her and Jason, who was not dressed appropriately for the weather, the jet Kurt told them would be coming arrived fairly quickly. Kurt greeted the pilot, who merely grunted at him in response, and Tori followed behind wheeling Jason on to the jet with her. Kurt and the pilot then both brought in the pieces of Cerebro Kurt had recovered.

They were silent on the flight to Xavier's School and Tori took this time to sleep. Kurt wasn't particularly interested in having any more conversations with Jason so he just focused his attention on one of his markings until he fell asleep as well. Jason just sat and stared at the ground. For a second he saw water shimmering on the ground rising up to surround his feet. He closed his eyes for a moment and when he opened them the water was gone. Taking a deep breath he pushed the image out of his mind.

When the jet arrived at its destination the pilot woke the sleeping passengers by loudly announcing over the intercom that they had arrived. Tori jumped awake and Kurt grumbled something about the rudeness of the pilot. After rubbing sleep from his yellow eyes he stood up and announced that they had arrived at Professor Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters.

"Yeah I got that worked out by myself, thanks." Tori yawned. She was cranky now that she had been woken up so rudely and that she had arrived at the place she didn't really want to be anyway.

Kurt was slightly embarrassed so he just said, "If you'll follow me I shall introduce you to the professor." and began exiting the jet. Tori unbuckled the seatbelt she had on and hurriedly got Jason and went off to follow Kurt.

Kurt led them through elaborately designed and decorated hallways. Tori looked around and despite herself she was amazed at how much the place felt like a genuine home. Jason, on the other hand, was uneasy. Glancing at the walls he saw water trickling down the them and forming pools on the carpet. He tried dismissing these images like he had on the jet but these were more persistent. By the time Kurt had gotten them in to the Professors office the images of water were making him panic.

The professor sat behind his desk, smiled warmly at Tori and Kurt, and then shot a glace at Jason that seemed to reveal a hint of unease.

"Thank you very much, Kurt. We'll talk again soon I just need to ask these two a few questions if you don't mind." he smiled.

Kurt nodded and replied "You're welcome, Professor." before exiting the room.

Xavier smiled at Tori and introduced himself. As he asked Tori questions about Alkali Lake and why she was there Jason tuned him out. He already knew the professor from when his father forced him to become a student (or a patient as his father would call him) and he was still panicking. The water was running down the walls furiously and covering the floor. Breathing heavily he closed his eyes and tried to shut everything out. He just had to focus on the room and push the water from his mind.

"Jason?" The professor asked when he noticed Jason was clearly under distress. "Are you alright?"

His eyes snapped open and darted around the room. Tori was looking at him awkwardly and the professor was obviously confused by his behavior. Jason saw the water level rising and when he felt the water at his knees he realized that pretending anymore was impossible. Jason looked to his left at Tori and then looked at the professor who was coming around from behind his desk when suddenly the bay window in the room exploded and water came gushing through it. He couldn't pretend anymore.

Jason Stryker opened his eyes to the familiar site of the Cerebro chamber his father had built in the underground base at Alkali Lake. Water was crashing down around him from all directions. Across from him was a boulder that had fallen when the dam ruptured and in front of him stood an empty wheelchair where only seconds ago Professor Charles Xavier was rescued by Storm and Nightcrawler. The water level had reached the machine on the back of his own chair that supplied his lungs with air and began to bog it down with water. Jason Stryker knew that very soon he would drown. He couldn't fool himself anymore; couldn't form an elaborate illusion to comfort himself in his final moment. His last attempt didn't work because he knew how real the danger was and how false the illusion was.

The water level was around his waist and the machine behind him began to make an odd sound not too different from the sound one hears when they step on melting snow. Jason desperately tried to cast an illusion - any illusion - but couldn't. He was under too much stress. The fear was bogging him down just as much as the water was bogging down his lungs. Tears fell from his eyes for the first time since he had been lobotomized. The saline drops then fell from his chin and into the salty water of the lake.

Jason Stryker drowned inside of the collapsing dam as the giant black jet outside took flight.


End file.
